


If At First You Don't Succeed (Try, Try Again)

by Dragonfly44 (gossipgardener)



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:07:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23204449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gossipgardener/pseuds/Dragonfly44
Summary: Neil opens his eyes five years earlier - back at Millport, about to be recruited by the Foxes.Rated M for eventual cannon levels of yikes, and also swearing.
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 5
Kudos: 40





	If At First You Don't Succeed (Try, Try Again)

Neil Josten blinked, startled. He tensed, looking first at the cigarette burning between his fingers and then up at the sky, stars washed out by the glare of stadium lights. His duffel, the grey one he had left in his room at Palmetto, was slung over his shoulder. _Oh_ , he thought dimly, _Well at least I know where I am now_. The scars on his arms were gone, and when he lifted a shaking hand to his cheek, so were his burns.

The door behind him opened with a squeal, and he turned on instinct, pulling his bag tighter. Coach Hernandez - and wasn't that a blast from the past - propped the door open and sat beside him.

"I didn't see your parents at the game," Hernandez said.

"They're out of town," Neil said, remembering how this conversation had gone the first time. The first time. He was either in the past, reliving his life, or his brain had conjured some desperate nightmare where he would be forced to live through his first year at Palmetto again. He so desperately hoped for the latter.

"Still or again?"

Neil could handle a lot of things. Torture, for one, was something he got a lot of. He was from two crime families. He bartered three people's lives to the yakuza and played an incredibly violent sport for a living. He could deal with that. What he could not deal with was time travel. No. He was not in Millport. He was not talking about his made-up parents to his high school exy coach. He must have been dreaming because time travel wasn't fucking real.

Hernandez held out his hand for the cigarette, and once Neil passed it to him, ground it out. Neil kept the conversation going with nonspecific answers and waited. Was the conversation going longer than it did last time? It felt like each second lasted years. Maybe he wouldn't be recruited to the Foxes. Maybe in this life, Janie Smalls hadn't tried to off herself. Maybe he would have no spot on the team.

Hernandez interrupted his spiraling with a gruff, "There's someone here to see you."

So Neil got up, and this time didn't run.

Wymack. He was wearing his usual wife beater and jeans, his tattoos on full display. Neil knew he had to play along with how the conversation went the first time, but he still wanted to wince at pretending not to recognize the coach.

"I don't know you," Neil said.

"He's from a university," Hernandez said. "He came to see you play tonight."

"Since when do we get recruiters in Millport? Most people don't know where it is."

"He said he was short on his striker line, so I sent out your file. I didn't want to get your hopes up, so I didn't tell you."

At this, Wymack interjected. "It's stupid late in the season for me to be here, I know, but I had some technical difficulties with my last recruit. Coach Hernandez said you still haven't chosen a school for fall. Works out perfectly, doesn't it? I need a striker sub, and you need a team. All you have to do is sign the dotted line and you're mine for five years."

He tossed the file to Neil, who caught it. "Palmetto State Foxes. Okay," He said, flipping to where he needed to put his signature, "If you've got a pen for me, I'll sign."

**Author's Note:**

> Quick note: I kept a lot of dialogue from canon.
> 
> If I manage to stay motivated long enough to write it, this fic will probably end up pretty long!
> 
> So, yeah. Time travel! My obligatory 'forced to be productive during coronavirus self isolation' fic. I'm not really sure where I'm going with this, but I sure am going somewhere! My Tumblr is @Corvid-9 so feel free to yell at me there


End file.
